Category Archives: civil-military relations

The Swarajya magazine (started by Rajaji to foster a freemarket-small government ideology and right-of-centre thinking in the country) has a series of videographed interviews at length (1 hr 45 minutes plus!!) called ‘The Right People’. I was so interviewed the … Continue reading →

A piece of American street wisdom says “to deter a bully on the block, punch him in the mouth.” There are two ways of hitting Beijng in the face with tremendous effect — pass on the most lethal strategic hardware … Continue reading →

A fully loaded Rafale is only as capable as the Su-30, MiG-29 and Mirage 2000. The talk of Su-30/Rafale for distant nuclear delivery against China is a joke. [Published as the ‘Up Front’ column in India Today, January 11, 2019 ISSUE … Continue reading →

This review by Jon P. Dorschner of my book ‘Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India’s Global Ambition’ was published online in the Journal of Contemporary Asia on December 23, 2018; it is at https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2018.1558452 Undergraduate international relations (IR) students know IR … Continue reading →

(At the ASEAN summit in Manila) Love to repeat what’s become my favourite line — I TOLD YOU SO! Immediately after his nomination by the Republican Party as its presidential candidate I had written that once in the White House, … Continue reading →

India’s military is woefully underprepared to fight future wars and there’s little focus on equipping our armed forces with cutting-edge tech The Indian armed forces, by habit, prepare to fight yesterday’s wars. Not one of the services has a forward-looking … Continue reading →

Karnad’s critique of Modi’s foreign and security policies stands out as an important broadside from a prominent political commentator. By Sumit Ganguly, India Today, December 8, 2018; ISSUE DATE: December 17, 2018 This book is an insightful but uneven critique of Prime … Continue reading →